Coin chute scavenging means



w. PATZER ET AL COIN CHUTE SCAVENGI'NG MEANS March 17, 1942.

, Filed Feb. 9, 1939 m m/ww, m M A .rr. w W r. mm

Patented Mar. 17, 1942 COIN CHUTE SCAVENGING MEANS William Patzer and Walter A. Tratsch, Chicago, Ill.

Application February 9, 1939, Serial No. 255,368

1 Claim.

This invention relates tocoin testing devices and has as its principal object the provision of improved scavenging or clearing means for effecting discharge of certain spurious coin elements from the chute.

Another object is the provision, in a coin chute of the type having a feeler projected into the coin passage to engage and arrest certain perforate and other unevenly surfaced coin elements and a discharge gate opened when the feeler is released /so that the coin element will be ejected from the chute, of means for ellecting an opening of the gate prior to the release of the feeler to prevent defrauding the device by quick manipulation of the gate for the purpose of causing a spurious coin element to continue on down the the same into coin releasing position only after i the gate has been opened a predetermined amount whereby to prevent any possibility of the released coin elements continuing down the passage due to a rapid opening and closing motion of the gate.

Other objects, advantages and novel aspects of the invention reside in certain details of construction, as well as the operation of the various parts of the preferred embodiment described hereinafter in view 'of' the annexed drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of the gate portion of a coin chute and the novel scavenging means;

Fig. 2 is aperspectlve of the gate portion and scavenging means; while Fig. 3 is a fragmentary transverse sectlon'along line 3-3 of Fig. 1, on a slightly larger scale.'

The subject matter or this application constitutes in part a continuation of matter disclosed in our copending application, Serial No. 250,679, and now Patent No. 2,239,050, and is also related to the subject matter of a copending application of Patzer, one of the applicants here= in. Serial rio. 203,026 and our Patent lie. 2,215,673.

Referring to the perspective view of Fig. 2. in one of its preferred formsthe invention iiicludes a chute body It of substantially flat elongated form, the body preferably being constructed by joining a pair of complementary castings H and I2 (Fig. 3) with impressions defining a descending coin passage l3 having a coin entrance ll in the upper regions of the chute, said entrance being preferably, though not necessarily, of the form shown in our aforesaid Patent No. 2,239,050, and including a pocket I 5 of scoop form at the mouth of the coin entrance M for the pur-' pose of collecting a plurality of coins to efiect simultaneous discharge of the same when the gate isopened.

A side wall portion of the chute passage near the coin entrance is formed by a gate l6 pivotally mounted on opposite ears I! and I8 seated in suitable openings in lugs 20 and I9, respectively so that the gate may pivot about an axis extending parallel to the plane of the coin passage, into and out of. open and closed position, the weight ment, but for lateral movement relative to the passage as well, this being accomplished by having the opening 23 in lug 20 of elongated form and extending at right angles to the plane of the closed gate, a similarly elongated slot 24' being provided in the lug l9 and being open at its outer extremity to facilitate mounting the gate. Thus, it will be apparent that the gate may shift bodily or laterally away from the chute body and pivot upwardly away from the same.

It is also of importance to observe that the spring and pin means 2l--22 is mounted nearer the pivotal mounting lB-IS than the opposite mounting l'l-20, or, in other terms, is disposed on a side of a vertical center line through the chute opposite the coin entrance ll. As a result of this arrangement, a force applied to the gate along its vertical edge 11 r the entrance I will tend to move that portion of the gateopposite the coin pocket 15 in advance of the remaining portions of the gate, and the advantage of this will be made to appear more fully hereinafter.

Means for effecting opening and closing moveiiient of the gate includes an elongated angle bar 25: mounted for sliding movement on the vertical edge of the chute body nearest the pocket I! and hence remote from the spring and pin means 2|22, and this arm has a laterally offset cam finger 26 which engages a roller 21 mounted on an offset ear of the gate.

Spring means 28, anchored at its respective ends 29 and 30 to the chute and slide bar, normally urges the latter into raised position with the gate closed. By depressing the bar 25 by any suitable means, the cam arm 28 hearing against the roller 21 will apply an opening force to the gate, and due to the mounting of the same for both shifting and pivotal movement, as well as the particular arrangement of the pin and spring means 2l-22, the gate will shift laterally away from the passage before it begins to pivot, and this shifting movement will be more pronounced at the end of the gate opposite the entrance and pocket II and it than at the remote side thereof.

As a part of the coin testing means there is provided a feeler 3| of magnetically attractable material which is mounted between a pair of spaced ears 3i o'n'a bracket afllxed to the gate so that the feeler may pivot about an axis substantially parallel with the normal pivotal axis of the gate It. One end I! of the feeler is offset to be positioned opposite an end of a bar magnet 33 mounted in a sleeve bracket 34 carried on the gate so that the end portion 32 of the feeler will be attracted by the magnet to pivot the feeler and project the opposite arcuately offset coin engaging end portion 35 thereof through a suitable opening in the gate and into the passage for engagement by' cin elements moving therein.

In the present instance,- the opening is an elongated drop-out opening 35, but any other form of opening would be equally satisfactory. Thus, the feeler, and particularly the nose portion 35 thereof is yieldingly urged into the coin passage to engage the perforate portions or certain irregular surface configurations to arrest particular ,coins in a region opposite the drop-out opening 36 and near the coin entrance It.

In certain of the prior art devices in which analogous gate and feeler constructions have been employed, it has been possible by a rapid opening and closing of the gate to withdraw the feeler sufficiently to permit an, arrested coin elewith a compound gate, that is, one capable of both shifting and pivotal movement, and means for pivoting the feeler subsequent to the opening movement of the gate. and to this end there is provided a feeler operating means in the form of a lever member llfwhich has a fixed pivotal mounting 4| relative to the gate, this mounting in the present instance being on a side of the discharge apron 42 secured to the side of the chute beneath the bottom edge of the gate to receive discharged coinelements when the gate is opened, this apron leading downwardly into a suitable coin return receptacle (see also Fig. 3). The free end portion of the lever member is offset to provide a feeler engaging arm 43- which projects between the gate and end portion II of the feeler, the lever member being bent so as to dispose the feeler engaging arm ll normally against the gate, th'e .arcuate formation of the end portion 38 of the feeler being sufficient normally to allow the portion II to be spaced away from the gate in normal position so that a space is left between the feeler portion 35 and the feeler engaging arm 43' when the gate is closed (see Fig. 3 particularly) From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that due to the bearing engagement of thefeeler lever member 40 against the gate, the lever member will be pivoted when the gate is opened, and due to the spacing of the feeler engaging arm 43 relative to the arcuate coin engaging portion of the feeler, an appreciable opening. movement of the gate will be effected before the feeler is engaged by the feeler lever member. Reference to the full and dotted line representations of the extreme positions of the ment to escape the same and continue down the I passage instead of falling out the sidewise opening afforded when the gate is opened, thus defrauding the chute. Another practice has been that of depositing a plurality of slugs in the chute with the knowledge that the first one would be arrested by the feeler 35 with the remainder lined up serially therebehind, and then by quickly manipulating the gate the first coin element would be released by the feeler and, whether or not it fell out the discharge opening afforded by the gate, its presence adjacent the feeler at the time the gate was manipulated would afford an opportunity for one or more of the succeeding slugs to be worked quickly past the feeler and continue down the passage. To prevent such defrauding, means is provided in the form of the chamber or pocket I! at the coin entrance for causing a plurality of coin elements to collect in a group, as distinguished from serial alignment, so that when the gate is opened-the coins of the group will tend to pass out of the chute together, rather than in succession as in the prior arrangements. This latter feature of the grouping pocket formation is particularly de scribed and claimed in our aforesaid Patent No. 2,239,050.

The present invention is more particularly concerned with-the combination of the feeler feeler and lever member as illustrated in Fig. 3

will make this clear. By the time the gate has moved sumciently to provide an adequate discharge opening, the feeler engaging arm." will engage the portion 35 of the feeler and begin to pivot the same away from the passage and any coin arrested thereby, thus effecting release. of such coin for movement out the already opened gate, and the possibility of defrauding the chute by the practice heretofore referred to is thus obviated. It may be remarked that one of the particular advantages of the foregoing-arrangements resides in the fact that when perforate coin elements are engaged by the feeler, such elements are more or less pendently supported, and in certain prior arrangements of this class it was possible by quick manipulation of the gate or scavenging control to cause the feeler to be moved into a position where the coin would gravitate oil the same prior to the time the gate was fully opened. with the result that the coin, when it finally escaped the feeler, would more often continue down the passage than be discharged. In the arrangement of our invention such-a situation is impossible for the reason that the feeler is not tripped or tilted to cause release of th arrested coin until the gate is adequately opened, as illustrated, for example, in Fig. 3 by the dotted line positions of the feeler tripping lever member and the feeler.

Stated in other terms, the feeler is always shifted bodily (laterally) away from the passage (by lateral shifting of the gate) before it is rocked or tilted to discharge any coin element which is hanging thereon.

The objects and advantages of the scavenging mechanism are described in detail herein in a preferred form, but the invention is not to be re- 5 stricted to such details except as may be provided in the appended claim, which in other respects are intended to include'all equivalent forms of construction and modes of operation.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

In a coin chute of the type having a coin passage with a movabiewall portion constituting a gate movable from a normally closed position to provide a discharge opening, the combination of testing means in the form of a feeler pivoted-on the gate and having a coin engaging portion arranged to project into the passage to engage and arrest certain coin elements, means yieldingly urging said feeler to project said coin engaging portion into the passage, means for opening said gate, and feeler tripping means including a memher movabiy mounted on a part of said chute which is stationary relative to said gate, said I WILLIAM PATZER. WALTER A. TRATSCH. 

